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Advances in the aquatic sciences
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Longevity in maternal transmission of isotopic marks in a tropical freshwater rainbowfish and the implications for offspring morphology

D. Starrs A E , B. C. Ebner B C , S. M. Eggins D and C. J. Fulton A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Evolution, Ecology and Genetics, Research School of Biology, Building 44, Daley Road, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.

B CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, Atherton, Qld 4883, Australia.

C TropWATER, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia.

D Research School of Earth Sciences, Building 61, Eggleston Road, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.

E Corresponding author. Email: danswell.starrs@anu.edu.au

Marine and Freshwater Research 65(5) 400-408 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF13150
Submitted: 12 June 2013  Accepted: 30 September 2013   Published: 15 November 2013

Abstract

Transgenerational marking is increasingly being used to study the early life history, biology and ecology of fishes. However, the timeframe over which the injected enriched stable isotopes remain in the mother and are passed onto her offspring is largely unknown. Similarly, we have relatively little knowledge of the effects of isotope labelling on the morphology of offspring. In this study, we injected adult female eastern rainbowfish (Melanotaenia splendida) with two doses (20 µg g–1 and 40 µg g–1) of enriched 137Ba or 87Sr stable isotopes to mark the otoliths of their larvae and examine the effects of isotope labelling on larvae morphology. Isotope ratios in larval otoliths were significantly different from controls in larvae hatched up to 174 days post-injection, indicating that enriched isotopes can mark the larvae of this daily spawning species up to 6 months after a single injection. Isotope-marked larvae displayed variable, but generally increased physical size, indicating that enriched stable isotope labelling may have some unintended effects on larvae morphology. Consequently, transgenerational marking provides a long-term tool for marking the offspring of M. splendida to disentangle their patterns of survivorship and dispersal, with the caveat that such studies should be interpreted in light of potential isotope-related changes in offspring morphology.

Additional keywords: early life history, fitness, LA-ICPMS, mark–recapture, Melanotaenidae.


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